New Strikeforce champ Nate Marquardt: 'I feel like I'm the best in the world'

New Strikeforce champ Nate Marquardt: 'I feel like I'm the best in the world'

PORTLAND, Ore. – Nate Marquardt’s confidence is at an all-time high following a fourth-round knockout of Tyron Woodley that won him the Strikeforce welterweight title.

“I really feel like it’s my time,” he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) following “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy.” “I’m one of the best in the world, and actually, I feel like I’m the best in the world, the best welterweight.”

Now, the question is what awaits him as champion.

Marquardt, for his part, didn’t have an answer at the post-event press conference. But he appeared no less confident that another tough challenge is on the horizon.

“This is a sport where everybody at this level is going to be tough,” he said. “But I feel like I’m the best in the world, and that’s who I expect I’ll be fighting for my next fight – is one of the best in the world.”

“Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy” took place Saturday at Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Ore. The event’s main card, including Marquardt vs. Woodley, aired on Showtime while preliminary-card fights aired on Showtime Extreme.

Strikeforce’s welterweight title was vacant for 13 months prior to Marquardt’s win, and a talent exchange with big-brother promotion UFC never became a reality despite the exodus of champ Nick Diaz to the octagon. Marquardt, in fact, was the second high-profile UFC vet to sign with Strikeforce since the promotion was acquired by UFC parent Zuffa, though it wouldn’t have happened had he not been released from the industry-leading promotion.

Now that Marquardt is firmly established in Strikeforce, a few options exist for his next opponent, though it’s debatable whether any are out-of-the-box contenders. Welterweight Jordan Mein rebounded from a decision loss to Woodley with a dominating win over Tyler Stinson on the event’s preliminary card. Japanese veteran Kazuo Misaki recently outpointed onetime title challenger Paul Daley. And Tarec Saffiedine is 4-1 in the promotion with his only loss coming via decision against Woodley.

But in the division’s current state, the pickings appear slim. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said matchmaker Sean Shelby has recently acquired new talent, including those “who are champions in different leagues,” that will be announced in the coming weeks.

None of this, of course, is Marquardt’s concern at the moment. Coming off a 16-month layoff served when the UFC fired him and a subsequent signing with British promotion BAMMA went nowhere, he said he badly needed to prove himself with a win.

That he did with flying colors.

“I trained hard for it, and it’s a great accomplishment,” Marquardt (32-10-2 MMA, 1-0 SF) said. “Tyron’s a very tough guy, a very skilled world-class fighter, and I trained my butt off.”

And Marquardt recovered when the fight went south in a hurry. Woodley (10-1 MMA, 8-1 SF) caught him with a stiff punch that put him on his butt in the third round and sent the crowd into a frenzy. For a moment, the onetime UFC middleweight contender was struggling to survive. But unlike his lesser-experienced opponent, he said he knew how to recover.

“I felt like he was trying to finish me off and he was using a lot of energy,” Marquardt said of Woodley. “That’s kind of where the experience came into play. I was just able to weather the storm and as soon as he started to slow down, I decided to get out.”

The vicious combination he used to dispatch Woodley was one he hadn’t actually practiced prior to the fight. He had discussed it with an old karate coach he reconnected with in training camp, but threw it on a whim when he cornered his undefeated opponent in the fourth.

One elbow Marquardt threw put Woodley out on his feet, and a hook and uppercut sequel were simply academic. Marquardt walked away before more serious damage could be done.

Yet despite his buoyant return, Marquardt struggled to put his achievement into context with the rest of his career. A former King of Pancrase and perennial contender in the UFC, he had previously earned several serious accolades. But he wasn’t sure if the Strikeforce belt was his crowning achievement.

Nonetheless, it is certainly up there.

“It’s hard to say I’d rank it above something like Pancrase, because at the time I was such a young kid,” Marquardt said. “That was the world to me. At this point, it’s a much higher competition now. So in that respect, it means more.

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